The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-25
AMONG THE MAGAZINES.
What the Monthly Publications Are Offering
Their Readers-Some Interesting Topics.


May Atlantic but among all the details of visit
which must have been very pleasurabe and
which the Autocrat seems to have enjoyed with
boyish delight, nothing is SO characteristic OF
the writer as DEPRESSION from the thread Of his
story to the subject of trees On the occasion OF
q visit to Tennyson he is reminded by an aspir-
ing evergreen which 'shot up like flame of
trees which were landmarks about his own
home. eff we find our warmest welcome at
inn,'" he says:
1--WE find our most soothing companionship in
the trees among which We have lived. some of
which may ourselves have planted We lean
against them, and they never betray our trust;
they shield US from the sun and from the rain;
their spring welcome is birth. which
never loses its freshness they lay their beautiful
robes at our feet IN autumn: In winter they
stand and wait emblens of patience and OF
truth. for they hide nothing. not even the little
leaf buds which hint to us Of hope, the last eie-
ment ia their triple symbolism"
Il have owned many beautiful trees,
and loved many more outside OF my own ieafy
harem. Those who write verses have no special
claim to be lovers of trees but so Tar as one is OF
the poetieal temperament he is like to be tree
lover. Poets have. as rule, more Tran the av-
erage nervous sensibility and irrltablity. Trees
have no nerves They live and die without suf
fering without self-duestioning or self reproach.
They have the divine gift OF silence. They can
not obtrude upon the solitary moments Wnen
one is to himself the most agreeable OF conpau-
ions The whole vegetable world, even the
uleanest flower that blows, is lovely to contem-
plate. What If creation had paused there, and
you or had been called upon 10 decide whether
self-conscious life should be added in the form
of the existing animal creation. and the hitherto
peaceful universe should come under the rule of
Nature as we know her.
Red in tooth and clawp
Are we not glad that the responsibility of the
decision did not rest upon usf
A glimpse of Emerson's boyhood with which
the Atlantic readers are favored by j. Eliot Ca
bot-suggestive name-represents that philoso-
pher as youth who was truly the father of the
man. That IS to say. those qualities of reserve.
dignity and high. mindedness which made the
man revered, if somewhat unapproachable and
uncompanionabe person, were present in a high
state of DEVELOPMENT in the child. and rendered
him sad little prg. Fancy the boy of ten years
who could write, as be did, to his aunt of his
days occupations: 1--WE spell as we did before
you went away. / confess often feel an angry
passion in one corner of my heart when one Of
my brothers gets above me- which / sometimes
think they do by unfair means. We
retire to bed at different times. 60 st a little
after 8, and retire to my private devotlons, and
then closs my eyes in Sleep and there ends the
toll of the day." He is described as having been
singularly free from faults at this time, and also
to have been addicted to the writing of verses on
the naval victories of the of 1872. 1t is with
some qualification. however. that one recognizes
a likeness to the ordinary boy in the fact that
the mechanical effort of writing attended
with difficulty, and working of the tongue up
and down.
The Counting of Sister Wisely" little story
by Sarah Orne Jewe.t. contains, as all her
sketches do, a distinctively rural charm. The
very air of the New England hillside pasture,
with its huckeberry bushes, its pennyroyal and
its mullen, reaches the senses of the reader and
inJAts the garrulous Mrs Goodsoe like an in
cense. The Shakespeare Shaplelgh ENHANCEMENT
is an entertaining history of a supposed bust of
Shakespeare, the interest being enhanced by the
difficulty Of separating fact from fiction in the
narrative poem by Aldrich, entitled s"The
Last Caesar" and referring to the third Napoleon,
is feature of this issue. Other contributions
by A. A. Hayes. George Frederic Parsons. Philip
Gilbert Hamerton, with the usual serials, 20 to
the making up of an excellent number of the
magazine
One of the brightest and most readable works
of fiction which has lately appeared in print is
the novelette, issued with the May Lippincott.
Written by Capt. Charles King and entitled
1.-THE Deserters." it is, as might be supposed, an
army story. The scene is laid at frontier
post, and each chapter contains internal evil
dence that it was drawn from life. The new
rules of baseball have reached the dignity of
forming subject for a magazine essay and are
deserves, by Henry Chadwick. Some expert
ences of reporter. an account of the social life
at Vassar and a short story sentitled 1.-THE Mad
isons Butler" are all bright and we'll written.
The April number of the new Boston maya
- Avf hnc <n nP fba
originality of idea and execution which is now
the rule among native American artists:
ssIt is easy to discover that we have a school of
American art already started. We have at least
fifty original thinkers and painters. ali working
out American ideas and with American natural
iem. Aside from the fact that many Of them
may have been educated in schools abroad, there
is evident In their work unmistakable traits.
problems in color chemistry technique it may
be- which seem to have been solved in an Ameri-
can way Our artists are beginning to see our
times and that which is good in our scant tradi-
tions ana glance at the Academy exhibition
proves this statement"
After enumerating a number of artists whose
WORK is q part of themselves Frank D. Mllet,
Carroll Beckwlth. Eastman Johnson George In
ness, VIM Hart Elnn Vedder and the Moraas
being included in the list, the Magazine goes on
to say:
Probably there are hundreds of American
artists who can be claimed to be working out
their own thoughts in their own way, and any
one OF these artists might easily receive honors
in any exhibition in the world If the Acade
my exhibition contains enough good works to
have prompted these ideas. the prize fund ex.
hibit must surely cinch the argument All
that seems to be required now, in order to assure
action on the part of buyers to recognize Ameri
can art, even industry. is to thoroughly
organize movement to that end with the Union
League of New York. perhaps, to lead off and
obtain a subsidy for the establishment of ma
tional school and salon. The moment this is &C
complished our best men in Europe will return
as they may in any case. since American pictures
selling well, and their influence will Civ,
IN impetus to the effort that will send our ar
along on the high road of assured sue TESS
American Art has succeeded very happily il
uniting high artistic quality with features
which make it popular in character as we'll Al
of value to professionals. The department. de
voted to home decoration is of practical ant
common sense character which commends itsel
to tho householder in search of suggestions TO
artistic furnishing. A pretty little etching of
goose pond by Volkman accompanies this issue
To the professional reader, who cares little TO
professional technicalities, the most attractiv
feature of Csssels Magazine of Art for May j
perhaps the sketch of Van Dyck, with an accoun
of his works and with illustrations taken from
several of the portraits painted by him. am
lately exhibited at the Grosv enor gallery i
90 oil